First home-based Sighting in... I don't know how long. (language)

[ZedOmega]

A quick one, from not even fifteen minutes ago.

My girlfriend has a 'no smoking in the house' rule established. Big deal, I've got an ashtray outside anyway. I go outside to smoke and see five cyclists pass by the house. Apparently 2:00am is the ideal time to do this now. Not even ten seconds later, I hear the sound of brakes being applied in an 'OHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCK!' manner. No impacts, no panicked cries for an ambulance, just screeeee and that's it.

Which tells me that those cyclists didn't have the sense to know what a red light was and got very lucky.

[BlaqueKatt]

Which tells me that those cyclists didn't have the sense to know what a red light was and got very lucky.

No you're assuming that's what happened as you didn't see it.
Never assume. Especially if you didn't witness the bikes running a red/stop sign-it could just as easily be the car that did so.

or the car driver figured "hey I don't see headlights or a cop I'll just run this red light/stop sign" Or was drunk and not paying attention, or texting, lighting a smoke, messing with the radio.

Happens to me all the time on my way to work at 4am on a bike-not always the cyclist ignoring the red light/stop sign. Heck the only time I've ever been hit on my bike I had the green-other light had been red for about 10-20 seconds-lady in a minivan on a cell phone blew through the red, didn't even see it/slow down-didn't stop when she hit me-didn't notice that either....almost plowed into a 7 year-old kid crossing the street in front of me.

[ZedOmega]

No you're assuming that's what happened as you didn't see it.
Never assume. Especially if you didn't witness the bikes running a red/stop sign-it could just as easily be the car that did so.

or the car driver figured "hey I don't see headlights or a cop I'll just run this red light/stop sign" Or was drunk and not paying attention, or texting, lighting a smoke, messing with the radio.

Happens to me all the time on my way to work at 4am on a bike-not always the cyclist ignoring the red light/stop sign. Heck the only time I've ever been hit on my bike I had the green-other light had been red for about 10-20 seconds-lady in a minivan on a cell phone blew through the red, didn't even see it/slow down-didn't stop when she hit me-didn't notice that either....almost plowed into a 7 year-old kid crossing the street in front of me.

True. But the cyclists in this area are notoriously EWish. Any other cyclist I've seen anywhere in this city will do their best to obey traffic laws and practice safe riding (use signals when turning/stopping, give right-of-way to vehicles in motion, etc), and I'm not discounting the possibility that the driver was at fault. But the ones in this neighborhood are bad about paying attention to where they're going.

Two separate incidents. One of them involved us backing out of our driveway with a cyclist far enough down the sidewalk to see us pulling out and said cyclist almost slamming front-wheel-first into our passenger-side door. We got yelled at because she didn't see us pulling out from fifty yards away. The second one was me street-checking at a crosswalk and having to jump out of the way for a different cyclist.

I can't stand anyone who doesn't watch what's ahead of them, no matter what they're driving.

[Magpie]

One of them involved us backing out of our driveway with a cyclist far enough down the sidewalk to see us pulling out and said cyclist almost slamming front-wheel-first into our passenger-side door. We got yelled at because she didn't see us pulling out from fifty yards away.

Actually you got yelled at because it was necessary for her to maintain her world view. If she's on the sidewalk, she's probably one of those people who thinks it's safer. Therefore you must have been doing something phenomenally stupid (beyond the normal "idiot driver" problems) for her to be at risk. If she didn't yell at you, she'd have to admit that she was wrong.

[ZedOmega]

Actually you got yelled at because it was necessary for her to maintain her world view. If she's on the sidewalk, she's probably one of those people who thinks it's safer. Therefore you must have been doing something phenomenally stupid (beyond the normal "idiot driver" problems) for her to be at risk. If she didn't yell at you, she'd have to admit that she was wrong.

Unfortunately. And I'm not going to discount the fact that there's been incidents where she almost/did get hit, because we know there's some people that go beyond the 'idiot driver' label. But even then, she'd have been at our opposite fenceline around the time our rear fender would've been over the near edge of the sidewalk...

[XCashier]

Heck the only time I've ever been hit on my bike I had the green-other light had been red for about 10-20 seconds-lady in a minivan on a cell phone blew through the red, didn't even see it/slow down-didn't stop when she hit me-didn't notice that either....almost plowed into a 7 year-old kid crossing the street in front of me.

I hope you weren't hurt badly. And please tell me that the cops nabbed that idiot!

[BlaqueKatt]

I hope you weren't hurt badly. And please tell me that the cops nabbed that idiot!

stiff shoulder for a few days and when one is dazed and on the pavement skidding sideways-ya don't really think to catch the plate number-it was winter so landed on snow-yay! The other cars just honked at me because "how dare a cyclist be in the road after getting hit" after all I was blocking an entire car lane.

[PepperElf]

i remember biking on base once. i was doing all the proper road things and a car decided to cut me off.

had to turn my tire sideways and slam the breaks on to avoid hitting them.


tho ... when it comes to bikers ive learned, that if they're on your right - sidewalk or street side - keep an eye out if you plan on making a right hand turn.

guy on my ship didn't bother looking when he pulled into the parking lot
and plowed into a biker.

far as i know the biker survived. our corpsman was called and he came running off of the ship to take care of the guy until the base medics could show up.

[Chromatix]

I've been the cyclist who ran into the side of a car. It was in Germany (which has cycle paths everywhere, as part of the pavement), and the car had simply pulled out from a driveway in front of me. The bike was a basic hire model which didn't have the hand-operated brakes I'm used to, only a "coaster brake" operated by pedalling backwards, so my reactions were considerably slower than normal too.

The car stopped with a wheel on my foot.

Fortunately, there wasn't any damage, either to the car, the bike, or my foot, though there was about a minute where we yelled at the bemused driver in English. Eventually my dad had the presence of mind to work out some German to get him to move the car *off* my foot.

The pavement is safer, not risk-free.

[Flying Grype]

As a cyclist I find that drivers are EWish when dealing with cyclists, even when the cyclists are obeying the rules of the road. They have not read the Driver's Handbook (our province has one) or at least not the section that talks about driving around cyclists, and the responsibilities of cyclists and drivers. Don't pull out the "but drivers expect cyclists to be lawless" card, because that's no excuse. A driver should not be treating a cyclist like prey because they expect the cyclist to be dangerous. If the cyclist is not being dangerous, it's the driver who's introducing an element of chaos.

[Magpie]

The pavement is safer, not risk-free.

Actually around here it's more dangerous. Driving is really different in North America than in Europe.

If the cyclist is not being dangerous, it's the driver who's introducing an element of chaos.

It's actually the people who get on their bikes having first purged their mind of elementary school "how to ride a bike" and the driver's handbook "rules of the road" who are the real problem. I've had drivers who are ahead of me stop before making a right-hand turn, because they expect me to pass them dangerously on the right (not when there's a bike lane). Drives me crazy, forces me to stop on a hill, etc, but it's not like they can just make the turn. The whole "bring right is ok, but don't be dead right" applies in both directions.

And I confess to encouraging this: a lot of drivers aren't very good with bike lanes. Having grown up in Toronto, where there's "diamond lanes" (buses, multiple passengers, bikes, motorcycles) I don't understand why drivers think they can't move into the reserved lanes when they're turning right. However you get a lot of cars turning right from the right-hand car lane: they're not in the bike lane, they're turning across it. And yes, I will wait for those people to turn. I know I'm encouraging bad behaviour but, once again, I don't want to be dead right.

[XCashier]

stiff shoulder for a few days and when one is dazed and on the pavement skidding sideways-ya don't really think to catch the plate number-it was winter so landed on snow-yay! The other cars just honked at me because "how dare a cyclist be in the road after getting hit" after all I was blocking an entire car lane.

I'm glad you weren't hurt too badly. Sometimes a heavy snowfall is a blessing!

The honkers...sheesh. Not one of them stopped to see if you were okay? People just decide to take a nap in the middle of the street with bent-up bicycles for no apparent reason there? Jerks.

[PepperElf]

when i'm driving i try to keep an eye on where the bikers are and to give them lots of room cos... i'd rather not have one squished by my car.

but yes i do wish bikers - mainly the ones where sis lives - would wear fucking helmets and headlights. seriously those kids think "o i'm biking on my tiny street where there's not much traffic! i don't need to be safe!"

O_o some of those kids are fucking lucky that drivers like me have good eyesight. i posted about one of them once... dark night, lots of rain, no helmet, no headlights. kid was fucking lucky i believe in driving UNDER the speed limit in that area (mainly because... of the kids)

[Whiskey]

When I get a bike, i swear to god I'm going to fit it with enough strobe lights to put the LA Raver scene to shame. DONT HIT ME

[ZedOmega]

but yes i do wish bikers - mainly the ones where sis lives - would wear fucking helmets and headlights. seriously those kids think "o i'm biking on my tiny street where there's not much traffic! i don't need to be safe!"

I'm almost afraid to ask about the number of bicycle-related fatalities that stretch of road has had because they don't believe in safety gear. I mean, at the very least, if cyclists are going to toss the helmet aside, lights would be a good idea...